Posts Tagged ‘release’

We mentioned in a previous post that one of the big concerts on Springfield’s horizon was the debut show of newly formed rock group Bomb the Bay, which features a combination of members of A Day Away, Glass Bottom Boat Ride and Playing With Matches. Longtime Springfield showgoers could imagine the fruits of that combo already, but now we have finished and recorded tracks to listen to from the new group. The band released a three-song sampler CD to hand out in promotion of its show November 14 at The Outland Ballroom with Speak Up!, Benefit of a Doubt and Uno. Didn’t get one? Click here to listen to “A Perfect Disaster,” “Spacebar” and “Give It Away.”

Ever been to a Short Histories of Powerful Nations show and wondered what the long instrumental piece at the beginning of the set is? It’s not found on A Brief Treatise On Land Ownership, Vol.1, so did it come long before or long after? The answer is the latter, and now it finally exists on record… or .mp3, as the case may be. The band just posted the song, titled “Street Finding Man,” to its MySpace page last Friday–a live cut, no less, taken straight from the band’s August 13 show at Lindberg’s with Native and The First Teenager Ever. Thanks to the deft work of Mobile Force Recording, the song sounds clearer than ever, and at seven-plus minutes it’s quite a treat. Click here to go to the MySpace page and you’ll find the track last in the player. Enjoy.

It’s been mere months since The Queen City Saints released its album Chorus of the Commoners, so one wouldn’t be surprised to wait awhile to see more new music. But this is not a band that shies away from a cause. To wit, the group just released a new single titled “Hero Of Midway,” a song written about, and in tribute to, American servicemen and women. “It’s about heroism, self sacrifice [sic], and overcoming obstacles that seem daunting to us all,” the band says via its MySpace blog.

All money made from the song will go to The Coming Home Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping Iraq and Afghanistan veterans and their families in all facets of life when the soldiers return from service, with aid ranging from physical treatments to psychological care and counseling. The band says the song will also be submitted for inclusion on an album to be sold at USO shows overseas. It’s also available for you to buy online; find out more on the band’s MySpace page.

Imagine this scenario: You’re in a band (woo!), you record your debut album in a day at a very good studio (damn we’re efficient!) and even send it out for some early reviews (free publicity rules!). From there, all hell breaks loose. You discover your band name is shared with another band… in Germany (seriously?!), and that said band just signed a record deal and wants you to vacate its band name (sigh). Then you run into glitches (i.e. money crunch) in the CD release process, meaning the record you recorded in a day took longer to get to the public than some other bands take to record and release theirs (good grief). Such is the plight of Sunrise Cassette, formerly known as A Fond Farewell and presently releasing its album Deal With It with a concert at Nathan P. Murphy’s tonight with openers Anthony Narvaez, Busted Kid and My Politic. Hopefully that puts an end to the twists and turns for a while, though it’s been a mini-soap opera in the meantime, even if it didn’t have brain tumors, evil twins or any of this.

We promised you more CD release party madness tonight, and, oh, are you getting it. The Bootheel is finally ready to present its six-song EP Gold Tops (album review coming shortly) to the masses tonight, and it does so with a shindig at The Outland Ballroom with Cooter Brown and Washington Irving. As if a show with that three-band package deal isn’t reason enough to brave the Ballroom heat, let’s expound on a couple of other details:

1. There is a fresh batch of Bootheel BBQ Sauce ready for sale at tonight’s show. See if this rings a bell:

Joplin’s musical buzz generator Never Shout Never, aka Christofer Drew, has been on an impressive roll in recent weeks, though the news has often been about record deals and media attention. Yesterday, at last, came a bit of news nearer and dearer to the artist: The Summer EP was released online on iTunes and at Never Shout Never’s website, SmartPunk.com and Amazon; and in physical form at Hot Topic and Best Buy. Several of the sites and stores have distributor-specific packages with extra merch and downloadable bits. You can read more about them by checking out Never Shout Never’s blog post about the release. The album lists for $5.99 on iTunes and $6.99 at Hot Topic. (Repeated calls to Best Buy weren’t answered, or we would have that one for you, too.)

It’s been a minute since we’ve heard from Brannon Powers, the happyendings/The Whitest Light singer turned solo artist. He toured with Kate Voegele through the latter half of May, then it was back to work on making music. The latest finished tune from that effort is a perky track titled “You Will Never Know,” a thoroughly enjoyable summertime song you can hear by clicking on these funny-colored words.

Earlier this spring the members of local indie-meets-Southern rock group Bootheel traveled to Chicago for a recording session at The Electrical Audio, owned by recording legend Steve Albini. Great, but what came of the tracks? A handful were put up on the band’s MySpace page for public consumption, but we now receive word that more is on the way. The band has scheduled a CD release party at The Outland Ballroom with fellow performers Washington Irving and Cooter Brown. Not too many details yet regarding the album itself, but given the wild nature of the band’s shows we anticipate one helluva good time when this show goes down.

Tonight marks the last concert at The Warehouse (728 W. Wall St.) for a while, we’re told, and those in charge of it are sending it on to hiatus in style. For the room’s goodbye-for-now sendoff, The Short Histories of Powerful Nations host their CD release show in the room with Falcon Punch, Colorado group runfasterscared, Jazzercise, Glass Bottom Boat Ride and Kudzu. Music begins at 9, but there will be a pre-show barbecue with the bands starting at 7. There is no official cover charge, but a donation is suggested for runfasterscared to help with the cost of their travel to and from Springfield.

It’s okay; our heads are spinning, too. When The Short Histories of Powerful Nations released the list of bands joining them for their CD release party Friday, June 19, the group included Falcon Punch, runfasterscared and Jazzercise. Fellow local hard-rock group Glass Bottom Boat Ride was mentioned, too. First, we were told they might play, then that they would play, then that they wouldn’t play… Now, once again, the band is on the show lineup. Apparently, GBBR put playing ahead of its schedule issues (some of the members are supposed to work that night) and, as a result, the show lineup is back up to five acts. Make that six; local group Kudzu is now on the lineup, as well. Hopefully all six bands wind up taking the stage Friday night at The Warehouse. We’re running out of minutes for last-minute changes.

The concert countdown is in full swing for The Short Histories of Powerful Nations‘ CD release concert at The Warehouse Friday, June 19, but just as soon as the full band lineup–SHOPN, Falcon Punch, Colorado group runfasterscared, Jazzercise and Glass Bottom Boat Ride–was announced, things hit a snag. Scheduling conflicts (damn jobs) will prevent GBBR from being able to play at the show, after all, and an attempt to substitute The First Teenager Ever on the bill fizzled as well. The show is still a little more than a week away, so there remains a possibility of seeing another act added to the concert in time to be ready, but the odds get longer with each passing day. Still, the four-band lineup in place is a pretty killer show. We’ll keep you posted on any new developments.

As we announced earlier this week, The Short Histories of Powerful Nations is readying a CD release show at The Warehouse (728 W. Wall St.) in a couple of weeks–Friday, June 19, to be exact. Even at the time of the initial announcement we were warned of the possibility of more surprises in store. Today comes the news that Glass Botton Boat Ride is now off the show and The First Teenager Ever will be joining the already-announced lineup of SHOPN, Falcon Punch, runfasterscared and Jazzercise. It’s a tough group of bands to match for intensity, to be sure, but The First Teenager Ever should be up to the challenge. Keep an eye out for more details as they come in.

Like sands through the hourglass… wait, that’s a little too soap-opera for this occasion. It’s a big night for Storyline, but not a night for melodrama. Instead, the local power-pop band plays The Outland Ballroom tonight for its CD release party, along with opening act Escape From Maya. (If you haven’t heard the band’s new EP Welcome Home, by the way, it’s quite the enjoyable listen.) The rest of your live-music Thursday, of course, is after the break.

With just a little less than two weeks to go until indie-roots-rock act Ha Ha Tonka drops its new album, Novel Sounds of the Nouveau South, on Bloodshot Records–it’s due for release June 16–the label is now taking pre-orders for the CD with a few special goodies thrown in at no extra cost. According to a new blog by the band, purchasing the album now on the Bloodshot Records website will get you a poster and buttons for the same cost you’ll pay for the CD alone when it comes out in a couple of weeks.

The album, apparently, is a take on the local-literature classic The Shepherd of the Hills combined with modern social commentary and includes such super-local song titles as “What Shepherds of These Hills?” and “Walking On the Devil’s Backbone,” a reference to part of the Mark Twain National Forest near Willow Springs. The guys may call a tour bus and suitcase home, but they certainly haven’t forgotten where they’re from.

Thank God this show is a little more than two weeks away. We need psych-up time. Lately The Short Histories of Powerful Nations have been putting on some of the most intense concerts we’ve seen in Springfield in quite some time, mixing heavy, fast music with wild, flailing performance art. In short, it’s like watching hardcore on speed and having every band member do his best Jim-Morrison-if-Morrison-played-an-instrument impersonation… with an occasional horn interlude. It’s fantastically chaotic stuff; it also hasn’t been committed to record–until now. The band finally has its EP, A Brief Treatise on Land Ownership Vol. 1, ready for public consumption, and a killer CD release concert ready to roll June 19 to celebrate. We’ll tell you more about it after the break.